Well this is an encouraging reply. Have you been the to either places lately ? I have been to Mexico city and I said what I said previously.
Going anywhere one needs to be aware of where you are going.
Just look at some the blue run cities in America, whattya say to this ?
The man is going and we are all here to help him, Ok !
I encourage useful replies to help him have a nice trip and we should look forward to some pictures.
So, fried rats ? well I have read China has some really good ones plus insects and other stuff we normally just step on.
Peace out bro.
Bruce.

I was using a cheap SanDisk SD card in my Nikon p1000 but decided I wanted a faster card so that I could record 4K. So I bought a Lexar x1500 for around $40 or so. When it came, I put it in the camera and changed the settings to higher res. I did an interview which I paid for and when I got home to edit it, it was crap. Digital noise, blur, lost frames, etc. So I took the card out and noticed it had contacts on the edge like all SD cards, but also contacts half way up the back as well. So I wonder if the Nikon p1000 can utilize these contacts or if they are even necessary to record 4K? I have a newer SanDisk card that says A2 on it that does record in 4K properly and it does not have the additional contacts.

What is the difference between A1 and A2?
What card should I buy that will for sure do the job? Some with higher numbers cost less and I thought the Lexar would be better as it cost more, but I was wrong.

Is it necessary to pay nearly $100 for a card that works for sure? My videos are short so I only need 64GB.

Can someone explain this stuff to me, please?

A ring light is not the best choice for event photograhy- there is no advantage in lighting quality, lighing form, or exposure accuracy.

A simple setup wiht a good Speedlight, either direct or modified, is more practical. if you want better lighting quality, you might consider a second off-camer light.

Erratic exposure has nothing to do, specifically, with the type of flash used. your issues may be in your meter system setting. Try one of the other matrix or combined reading settgs rather than spot reading. If the meter is reading in the wrong area you can get subject failure which causes exposure inaccuracy.

I am the photographer for my Elks Lodge in Santa Barbara, CA. As an avid amateur, volunteer, I shoot photos at most of our events.
For themed events like Halloween, Luau, etc., I put up a 6' x 8' cloth backdrop for members and guests to pose in front of as part of my photo shoot. Many times groups of 5 or 6.
I am now using my recently purchased Canon R5 with the RF24-105 F4 lens with no flash per my and member's choice shooting handheld.
My photos are sharp, but some are a half to a full-stop underexposed, which I correct in post-processing.
My thought is to purchase a good quality 18" ring light to gently increase my light to have a more correct exposure and possibly some catchlights in their eyes.

I am asking for your advice and experience.

Your thoughts will be very much appreciated.

Can you devise a way to put the "measurement of time" into a metric system? ... so instead of 60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours, 7 days, 52 weeks, 12 months, 1 year, all such would be based on the number 10. The only constants would be a day is one rotation of the earth, and a year is one trip around the sun.

That would mean that the designations: seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, months --- can be made longer or shorter, or even eliminated, so long as they are based on the number 10.

Note: This idea came from one of my UHH responses to another post...but I though it should have its own thread.